Verizon to the Future, a Phone Company takes stake in Self-Driving Cars

Verizon, one of the biggest phone companies in America, has decided to invest in self-driving cars from the company known as Renovo Auto. The Phone giant wants to invest in the company because they see it that self-driving cars are a certain future that they want to take a part in. By investing in Renovo Auto, Verizon will be the company that Renovo Auto will use for their mobile internet needs. Especially with the use of the Delorean as a subject for this self-driving vehicle, it will attract nostalgia with the movie, Back to the Future, a film where a scientist and a teenager use a Delorean that can travel in time, so the idea is that this vehicle is the future and Verizon wants a piece of the cake.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/verizon-invests-in-self-driving-car-startup-renovo-1493298001

The Infamous Nokia Crop is back at it, but this time with bathroom scales. They have started to diversify in their product market to be more than low tier phone but a former super company that moved the world. The lost costs phones started to lose it luster with the introduction of the Windows stake in phone products. Within time, Nokia started to have a comeback but in other products. The name of Nokia has tremendous value despite being known for their lost cost phones. For being a lost cost phone, many people had the chance to use them at one point in their life. With that, the marketing opportunities are monumental. Diversifying would be a joke, Marketing with Nokia would be as you say, easy as pie. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/nokia-pegs-its-comeback-to-new-devices-1493285405

Amazon Posts Bigger-Than-Expected Increase in Profit: Shares surge after hours as the online retailer’s results top consensus forecasts

Amazon.com Inc. has been putting major spending for international expansion and video contents. However, their shares continue to rise tremendously: from $513 million to $724 million within the past year.

Now that Amazon has expanded overseas, they are expected to hire a lot more workers by 2018 to accommodate for more needed labor. In addition to using postal services, Amazon has also started to ship with their own delivery service due to rising shipping costs, even leasing their own planes for delivery.

These rapid growths and expansions result in Amazon.com Inc.’s major boost in profits, higher than what was expected.

WST Article

Linh Tran

MKTG 3343

Nintendo to Launch New 2DS XL Handheld Game Device in July: In line with pledge to keep the platform to cater to demand from children

Nintendo is planning to launch another gaming device targeted at children: the 2DS XL. Although they had recently released the Switch, which is more powerful than the 2DS line, the 2DS is more portable and less expensive.

Not only does Nintendo makes different handheld gaming devices, but also they make different mobile games. By doing so, Nintendo is able to reach to a wider range of target markets from children to teenagers to adults.

The portability and cost would very likely cause customers to choose the 2DS over the Switch. 

WSJ Article

Linh Tran

MKTG 3343

Elon Musk Innovates Underground Travel

Elon Musk, the mastermind behind some of the most innovative companies like Tesla Inc., for their electric cars, or SpaceX, for their pursuit of space and how to apply technology to making best, has decided to dabble in the underground roadway. Yes, he is making a quick and faster means of transportation with the use of elevators on streets and moving cars and people with carts that transport them to their destination than it would be in typical traffic. The article boast of Elon musk for his innovations in science and tells a story of his slight downturns in taking those steps. I believe it is necessary to risks to be able to achieve so much more, and that I believe is what Elon musk is trying to do. Even now with Tesla Inc., he is driving for different concepts and ideas to make his cars sell. By attracting the consumers with his cars, futuristic ideas of space travel, and the idea of spending less time in traffic with cool underground travel he is able to brand himself as an innovator and a businessman.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-latest-dream-underground-roadways-1493416625

China’s Uber

According to Co, china’s Didi Chuxing Technology, Their new funds round has raised to 5.5 billion, and that will develop its global growth and takes it to the next level, and that is Artificial intelligence. The casting money makes The Beijing establishing to the top company’s estimate which is more than 50 billion, and it also one of the biggest Asia startup. 

Didi was estimated at 36 billion in August, after cooperating with Uber technology’s. Then it comes with new sponsor such as China Merchants Bank and Menlo Park. These funding mad Didi more valuable than  the electronic company Xiaomi Corp, that estimated $46 billion. 

Didi managed 20 million ride a day during the fall. Therefore, Didi planning on developing autonomous cars this March by opening a research and development lab in Silicon Valley. The lab going to concentrate on artificial intelligence security based and intelligent driving technologies.

By: Mohammed Almomen

https://www.wsj.com/articles/didi-chinas-uber-raises-5-5-billion-in-latest-funding-round-1493379352

In Las Vegas, Drinks Flow a Little Less Freely

Recently, Vegas casino owners have been implementing a new tracking system to prevent the overflow of free drinks to "freeloaders". This new system is a series of lights on the back of machines that signals when a gambler is actually playing or just idling and cashing out early in order to take advantage of the free drinks at casino bars. Green light signals that the patron is actively gambling and continuing to put money into the machine meaning they are eligible to continue to receive free drinks. The red light signals that person has not been actively adding money or gambling on the machine and to cut off their drink supply.

The reaction of patrons who have learned of this new system have had mixed reviews. Many that are frequent Vegas visitors are not at all upset by this and in fact, think that it is only fair, saying that the only people who will be upset by this are the ones who are taking advantage of the free drink policy without actually gambling. Those who are upset by this are also frequent visitors of Vegas however they feel that the city has begun to "nickel and dime" for every perk that used to be considered a tradition on the strip. Others are locals who have decided to venture off the strip to other casinos in the Vegas area. 

Overall this new system that is being implemented seems to be casino operators way of adapting to their promotions. Although this system was a gamble itself, they would be losing more money if they allowed the "freeloading" to continue. 

WSJ Article

Amazon to release new Amazon Echo, "Echo Look"

Amazon is known as the greatest online shopper where you can buy anything from basic school supplies to electronics and even food. In 2014, Amazon released Amazon Echo, an artificial device speaker where you can command it to do anything from buying a product from Amazon to turning on the lights in your house. Echo has been evolving and will continue to do so.
Amazon has now come out with Echo Look. Echo Look will now answer the question every woman always asks, "does this look good on me?" Echo Look comes in with a built in camera where you are able to take a full body picture or 360-degree videos which will be posted: creating look books, combinations, and even provide recommended clothing to shop online. Even though Echo has been very popular since Amazon released it, Echo Look can be something to be precautious over. Some can worry about the privacy and protection of their home with an always on-recording camera.
Amazon is the fastest online shopper and the biggest competitor for any retail store internationally. It has also been very successful with it's technological advancements. Currently, Echo Look is priced at $200 but can only be purchased through invitation.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-launches-new-device-to-watch-you-dress-1493235581

Publishers Weigh Pros and Cons of Potential Google Ad-Blocking Feature

        Alphabet Inc.'s Google is planning to launch an ad-blocking feature in Chrome that could be switched on by default and would block "certain online ads deemed to provide bad experiences for users." On the upside, Google has the potential to block inappropriate, egregious content that most people seek to block in the first place. However, ad-supported websites and services are worried this feature could "concentrate a lot of power in the hands of one organization that is not neutral and has vested interests in all sides of this."

       Google, already a looming ad giant, has a good deal of power over publishers because they rely on Google's ads to drive traffic towards their sites and services. The way Google implements the new ad-blocking feature will affect these sites depending on what ads will or will not be filtered out, and if the service would only allow ads served or placed through Google's owned-and-operated services: 

       "One option includes blocking all advertising on a website if it includes even just one offending ad, which would ensure that website owners keep all forms of advertising up to standard. The other option is simply to block the offending ads in question, though it’s unclear whether Google will go forth with either strategy." Google's interest lies in ensuring web users don't turn to third-party ad-blocking tools; it appears to be taking additional steps to clean up advertising bad practices and keep users happy, even if it means throwing a healthy chunk of the lower-end ad market under the bus. 


Erin Larson
https://www.wsj.com/articles/publishers-weigh-pros-and-cons-of-potential-google-ad-blocking-feature-1492721306

Wal-Mart’s Strategy of Cutting Prices Is Hurting Its Rivals

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, is spending a lot of money on lowering prices to beat competitors such as Target Corp., Amazon.com, and Kroger Co. In fact, Wal-Mart’s effort to defend its low-cost reputation is helping extend one of the longest food-price declines in decades in the United States.

The company’s objective is to set strategic price drops on food and household goods in its U.S. stores to overcome its rivals. Although Wal-Mart’s strategy is eating into its own profit, the company keeps stealing market share. Yet, Wal-Mart’s renewed focus on lowering prices is hurting the nation’s biggest supermarkets.

Supermarket chains such as Kroger and Target are trying to turn around the struggling grocery business. In fact, they keep on investing millions of dollars in online sales and price cuts to get rid of the problem, but they have not been successful at all.  

Relevance to Marketing:

Wal-Mart’s strategy of lowering prices is hurting the country’s biggest supermarket chains. In effect, operating profits for Wal-Mart’s competitors  declined about 5% last year. This situation helps Wal-Mart into beating competitors to attract more customers and keep increasing the company’s sales after its tremendous price cuts. The company’s strategy is a good example of the marketing concept as Wal-Mart keeps on investing to get rid of its rivals and make the company more profitable in the near future. In fact, Wal-Mart has been fighting its competitors on price since its founding in the 60s. The company believes in the idea that by cutting prices, their market share will certainly increase as well as their sales. Actually, this has been the case as Wal-Mart’s profit fell 18% in the most recent quarter, but in existing stores, Wal-Mart’s sales have risen for 10 consecutive quarters.

Name: Javier León

Class: MKTG 3343

Article: Wal-Mart Brings Price War to Groceries, Boosting Pressure on Big Food Retailers

Link to WSJ Website: https://www.wsj.com/articles/lower-prices-at-wal-mart-good-for-shoppers-bad-for-grocers-1492689601

Retailers are heavily competing for top positions on Google

Many major retailers are competing for ad space on Google, and going as far as to even block their competition from posting advertising on Google. Many of these retail companies are realizing that so much of their business is coming online, in online markets. So they are spending as much if not more on their online advertising, specifically on online search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo (Google to be more specific though).

Search engines and clothing retailers are not the only companies that are taking to this though, it is becoming quite a large trend among many big companies. Many big companies like Fox, Youtube, and Twitch TV are realizing this as well. Advertising and subscriptions are Twitch TVs main source of income.

This trend will only continue to become bigger, especially as more and more companies start to pick up the business model of online marketing and optimizing their positions on search engines.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cmo-today-retailers-ratchet-up-competition-for-google-search-ads-1493033732

Samsung to Issue Galaxy S8 Software Updates After Complaints

Samsung recently released their new Samsung Galaxy S8, but customers have already started to complain about certain issues that have occurred with the factory settings of the phones. There have been issues where the phone has a red-hue when turned on, and the wi-fi connection has also been weak.

Samsung released a statement saying that there will be a software update in order to fix these problems. Although this issue mainly occurred in South Korea, where the phone was first released, Samsung hopes that this will not stop sales in the US and Canada. The Galaxy S8 had large sales in the market especially with preorders since lots of customers have looked forward to the launch of this phone.

Samsung has done a good job at trying to keep their customers by giving phone replacements or software help to those who have had issues with the phone. Samsung is trying to have a good launch with this phone, and not have not repeat of last year’s Note 7 where they got completely removed from the market due to the batteries overheating. They also lost millions of dollars, so they are now trying to win back their market and gain revenue.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-to-issue-galaxy-s8-software-updates-after-complaints-from-users-1493028918

U.S. Tobacco Industry Oddly Increases in Revenue

The tobacco industry expected to face difficulties in future sales due to the increase health regulations and decrease in the number of American smokers. Sales started to decline as older smokers started to quit and fewer younger people picked up the habit of smoking. The number of sales of cigarettes fell by 37% from 2001 to 2016.

Although less people were buying, cigarette companies were able to avoid greater losses and even bankruptcy by raising the prices. The average cost for a pack of cigarettes went from $3.73 in 2001, to $6.42 in 2016, increasing the revenue by 32% and an estimate of $93.4 billion. Operating profits of tobacco manufactuers increased by 77% since 2006. Tobacco companies' price-to-earning ratios are roughly 10% higher than it was in 2000. 

The tobacco industries were able to avoid great losses in revenue due to decreasing sales by changing the price element of their companies' marketing mix without interfering or changing the actual product. With the understanding of the tarket market, their change in prices were necessary due to the changes and regulations over the years.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-tobacco-industry-rebounds-from-its-near-death-experience-1492968698

Alan Nguyen

MKTG 3343

Thousands of Uber, Lyft Drivers Fail Massachusetts Background Check

State disqualifies about 11% for reasons including license suspensions and violent crimes

In 2016 Massachusetts’ legislatures passed a law requiring background checks for ride-hailing companies. From this, more than 8,200 drivers have been disqualified from picking up customers after failing the state’s extremely strict background checks. After conducting background checks on over 71,000 drivers, 8,200 (11%) failed due to reasons ranging from license suspensions, driving offenses, and violent crimes.

High-profile crimes raised concerns around safety in the ride-sharing industries. The ride-hailing firms have faced scrutiny over vetting in Massachusetts, where several drivers were accused of sexual assault last year.

These criminal offenses damage the company’s buyer-seller relationship, for customers would not want to enlist in a service if they have the possibility of putting themselves in danger. The required background checks are good because they give more comfort to customers when getting into a car with a stranger.

Janelle Mendez
MKTG 3343

https://www.wsj.com/articles/thousands-of-uber-lyft-drivers-fail-massachusetts-background-check-1491495439

Sorghum Syrup

 Sorghum syrup is a relatively new product in the market that comes from drought-resistant sorghum grass. It came from Africa around the 1850s and is thick, sweet, with a toasty nutty flavor. It contains nutritious properties such as iron, calcium, and potassium. Sorghum is so nutritious that according to the National Sweet Sorghum Producers and Processors Association, before the invention of supplements doctors often prescribed patients with a daily doses of sorghum syrup.

Where to Buy: Tennessee ($9 for 16-ounce jug) and Kentucky ($12 for 8-ounce tin) and also available for shopping online. For more information, please look at the link below.

Relevance to Marketing: when we talked about the typical life cycle of a new product, we have learned about the phases each new product goes through that are: market introduction, market growth, market maturity, and sales decline. For each stage, managers have to identify specific decisions for strategic planning. Sorghum syrup appears to be in the introduction phase where sales are low because the idea is new in the market. In this phase informative promotion is needed to educate consumers about the product.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/swap-in-sorghum-anything-maple-can-do-this-syrup-can-too-1492098363

MKTG 3343

Priscila Quimboca

Tesla Company Enters the Middle Eastern Market

The Tesla's electric cars were launched Monday in the United Arab Emirates. Tesla is one of the fast growing vehicle manufactures with sales of 27% increase in the last quarter of 2016. The Middle East will be a great market for its sport and luxury cars due the wealth found in that area. The cars prices will start from $74,850 for Model S and about $93,650 for Model X.

Relevance to Marketing

Before taking such steps of expanding the company by going to the Middle East, the top executives thought about the place they were entering and the development of channel systems. When we discussed the chapter about place in class, we talked about having the right quantities, right locations, and delivering the product at the right time.

Right Quantities: Tesla's executives plan on making 500,000 cars by the end of 2018, and 1,000,000 cars by the end of 2020.

Right Locations: the broader Middle East and Dubai will be good locations because of the wealth found in those areas. Middle Easters are already buyers of fancy cars every year, so Tesla will be one more in their list.

At the Right Time: with the decrease in the oil prices since 2014, many governments in the Middle East have cut fuel subsidies, which has made gasoline-powered cars more expensive. 

This article illustrated how important it is to plan about the place and development of channel systems!

https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-makes-first-foray-into-middle-east-1486999094

Priscila Quimboca

MKTG 3343

Netflix Inc.'s Grows Profit After Falling Short on Subscriptions

The American entertainment company Netflix Inc. grew its profit while subscriber growth slowed in the first quarter of 2017. For instance, content expending was reduced allowing the company to increase its revenue after coming below expectations on daily subscriptions. 

Netflix expected to increase its membership up to 98.9 million subscribers, but the company only reported a total of 98.75 million members during the year’s first months.  Yet, the streaming service is not concerned about this situation as they assure they are on track of surpassing 100 million soon.

Netflix is also pushing hard to expand internationally and elevate its revenue while the U.S. market matures. In fact, Netflix’s executives view China as the largest potential market for the company making it necessary to promote themselves in the Asian country sooner than later. In order to keep increasing the company’s profit, they are considering extending to other countries than China as content expending will surely increase in the near future.

Relevance to Marketing:

Netflix Inc.’s goal is to keep its revenue increasing and the company is doing its best to make it happen. Even though the streaming service slowed  its subscription growth, Netflix reduced content expending to keep on raising its profit. This strategy is a good example of the marketing concept as the company’s executives are doing whatever they can to make the company more profitable and better prepared for the future. If Netflix goes for higher content costs to produce better series and more original movies, its revenue will certainly go down as the company is expending more money than before. Yet, Netflix’s executives are preparing the company for such events as they keep on raising its profit while they can so they could have enough money to invest on streaming media and better market the company in the near future.

Name: Javier León

Class: MKTG 3343

Article: Netflix’s Subscriber Growth Slows at Home and Abroad

Link to WSJ Website: https://www.wsj.com/articles/netflixs-subscriber-growth-slows-at-home-and-abroad-1492460461

Neiman Marcus Finds Wealthy Shoppers Want Better Deals

The luxury retailer, along with several other high-end retailers, are in some trouble when it comes to their customer loyalty. For the longest time, these stores never had to worry about losing their customers because of prices. However, they are finding now that even their loyal, wealthy customers are wanting better deals on their designer products. Long time Neiman Marcus customers have started abadoning their favorite retailer for online stores and even the stores of single brands due to their promotions and lower prices.

Neiman Marcus is in deeper water than any other retailer with "nearly $5 billion in debt that has grown through more than decade of private-equity" and even went as far as approaching Hudson's Bay Co (parent of Saks Fifth Ave) about buying them out as an escape. Gone are the days where if Neiman's needed to raise profit all they had to do was raise prices. For a company whose long ago mantra was "there is nothing too expensive for our customer" these rough times are not boading well for them. With discount stores such as TJ Maxx starting to sell designer apparel at such low rates, consumers began to question why they were paying full price for the same products. Despite luxury retailers attempts to compete with these prices by opening their own versions (Last Call, Off 5th, etc) the efforts weren't enought to keep them afloat.

The potential and rationale of combining Neiman Marcus with Saks Fifth Ave is great with the luxury market being as tough as it is right now. The Neiman's team will have a lot of bases to cover in making sure they stay afloat however, the likelyness that Neiman Marcus will survive on its own in the next few years is very low.

WSJ Article

Why Cities Need to Create Their Own Global Brands

MKTG 3343
Erin Larson

       Cities all over the world seek to attract not only tourists and foreign investments, but also competitive global population centers. To do this, these centers must strategize and brand themselves in order to appeal to knowledge workers, institutions, cultural and sporting events, and even film shoots. Greg Clark expressed the difficulty of assigning personal identities to cities: "Cities aren’t simply products or companies, so it’s easy to make mistakes." Cities must appeal to all aspects of a culture, and therefore logos and slogans are inherently useless in global branding. Clark said the best route for success would be in bringing together city representatives, recruiting citizens and city institutions to build an alliance, align existing events and marketing with a story, and review progress annually to develop additional approaches. 

        Since cities are "engines of economic development, sustainability, [and] social mobility" they tend to affect rural areas as well, and can benefit from city success. Since the number of global cities is increasing with every year, visibility and differentiation is the key. 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-cities-need-to-create-their-own-global-brands-1492394882

The Trump Tweets

MKTG 3343
Erin Larson

       Twitter helped Trump win the presidency - his tweets drew free media attention to himself and his campaign, rallying his base and destabilizing his opponents to produce a miraculously positive outcome.

       However, since winning the presidency, Trump's passionate, highly-charged tweets have produced a less positive reaction and instead have drawn more opposition against him. According to the WSJ article addressing this issue, "The tweets are drawing attention to himself as a president in permanent tension with two major American institutions: the U.S. press and the intelligence community." The furious intensity of his tweets directed against the New York Times and The Washington Post have only increased audience size for the media's version of any events he comments on. 

       Currently, Trump seems to handle his own public relations, and he seems to do it on the fly without regard for the consequences it might have on his success in the White House. Twitter might have helped him to victory, but it could also be the bane of his political affluence.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-trump-tweets-1491434092

How a Scrappy French Newspaper Is Roiling the Election Campaign

MKTG 3343
Erin Larson

       Le Canard Enchaîné - a satirical, staff-owned publication - has been running print for nearly a century but is still considered 'scrappy' due to its humorously underhanded way of publicizing scandalous information about public figures. The WSJ article quotes Sorbonne Nouvelle University media historian, Laurent Martin: “They’re more at ease than others in criticizing the powerful political and economic forces," she said of the Le Canard.This is precisely how their audience has expanded by well over 100,000 since they began covering the election campaign, and senior politicians have taken to scanning the papers for gossip as soon as they can snag a copy. 


       The Le Canard's big-hitting news regarded front-running presidential candidate, François Fillon, and exposed him for transferring thousands of dollars in public funds to his wife and children. It also reported that second runner Marine Le Pen improperly used regional-government funds to help finance her 2012 presidential bid.

       By releasing information about big name front runners in a national presidential campaign, the Le Canard drew in a much larger audience than it had in over a century, and the way it touched upon the news in an aggressive but honest manner appealed to readers searching for truth.  


https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-scrappy-french-newspaper-is-roiling-the-election-campaign-1492162215

Netflix: The Monster That’s Eating Hollywood

With Netflix branching out from their original content being mostly scripted dramas and sitcoms to adding comedy specials and children's fare, TV networks are getting nervous about how they will be able to compete with this new Netflix. Not only does their new extension of original content, consisting of 70 new titles this year, scare TV networks but so does their spending. According to the WSJ article, "Netflix's spending on original and acquired programming this year is expected to be more than $6 billion, up from the $5 billion last year...five times as much as 21st century Fox's FX" (Flint). 

TV networks are finding it hard not only to keep up with the spending of Netflix but also in finding talent that will work on their shows and employees that will help run the network and produce new shows. For example, the former Vice President of 21st Century Fox, Tara Flynn, left Fox to go work for the streaming service. Fox tried to sue Netflix because they felt like Netflix was "stealing" executives and this "ongoing legal battle is just one sign of the escalating tensions between Netflix and Hollywood" (Flint).

It will be interesting to see exactly what effects the new Netflix will end up having on televisions networks and regular broadcasting in general. This rivalry is a prime example of the marketing concept of the threat of new entrants because televisions networks used to only compete with each other and now a whole new way of "tv" has taken over the market. 

WSJ Article

A Response from the United CEO

A Response from the United CEO

            On April 9, 2013, airport police removed a passenger from a United Express Flight in Chicago in order to make room for off duty crew members who needed to stay on the plane in order to arrive to the destination the flight was originally supposed to fly to. The way the passenger was removed though was rather shocking and intense as the passenger had to be dragged down the aisle since he was refusing to step off the plane. Many passengers that witnessed the situation pulled out their video cameras on their phone and exposed United for the type of customer care treatment they were giving.  A video of a man being dragged off the plane with blood running down his lip isn’t exactly something customers look for when deciding which airline they should pay for when it comes to their travels.

            The video went viral in a matter of less than 24 hours. Oscar Munoz, CEO United Airlines, responded with “This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers. Our team is moving with a sense of urgency to work with the authorities and conduct our own detailed review of what happened.” Along with these words he mentions that he is going to fix the issue so that it never happens again.

            Although this event already unfortunately occurred, the public has reacted negatively with the way the man was treated and there will be lots of lost trust and less customers heading towards United Airlines way.  The use of the viral video for sure is hurting the airlines reputation and isn’t something that can be unseen. This will be remembered for many, many years.

Natalie Torres

MKTG 3343

https://www.wsj.com/articles/united-ceo-under-fire-for-crisis-response-says-passenger-was-belligerent-1491921299

Amazon vs. Small Retailers

Amazon vs. Small Retailers

As of recently, Amazon Prime has been a go-to customer target with the intention that free shipping is included with the purchase. This has been leading other companies to come up with better shipping situations, where it means bringing down the price and speeding up the shipping process. Amazon Prime includes two days of shipping and handling, and on top of that, shipping is free.

To keep up with Amazons success, FedEx, a shipping competitor, has been developing a new process to help small retailers keep up with Amazons success by creating a goal to reach customer satisfaction and fulfillment. “Amazon handles less than 3% of client orders not placed on the site. Radial, ShipBob and others promise in marketing materials to help smaller retailers meet the higher expectations for shipping set by Amazon.”

Another competitor that has increased the pace of the shipping process is Walmart. They now promise two days of shipping and handling, with shipping fee covered if they spend more than thirty-five dollars. Amazon holds a lead in the e-commerce market, while influencing its customers to switch their regular in person shopping to sitting behind a computer and ordering something to be delivered to your home into your hands in a matter of two days with no cost.

Online shopping ha recently taken a huge impact to the market due to the fact that you can literally buy anything with just a click of a button. Shopping online opens up many choices to choose from for a certain product and list out different price rates, sales or promotions, and even brands. With the continuous deal of free shipping, the future is going to certainly be more advanced and used within the process of online shopping.

Natalie Torres

MKTG 3343

Baskin, Brian. "Amazon's Free Shipping Pushes Small Retailers, Delivery Firms to Compete." The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 08 Apr. 2017. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazons-free-shipping-pushes-small-retailers-delivery-firms-to-compete-1491649203

Youtube Subscribers are Forced to Watch Ads

         YouTube subscribers are forced to watch ads even if the viewer records their episode on DVR. In order to receive credit from marketers, they are playing the live commercials with a digital recorder stored in the cloud. This is similar to other TV networks and has an On- Demand option where within at least 24 hours any new episode will be uploaded.
          YouTube made a deal with many TV programmers so that the full episode can be played without being able to skip any ads. It is almost similar to recording a movie or episode on a DVR. YouTube thought it'd be best to try and make future deals with streaming services to offer different channels as well.  
         This is related to marketing because they are finding new opportunities for the company. They collaborate with other companies in order to form better ideas and an interestingly better combination of companies working together in order to be apart of a successful business. Marketers are also more successful by getting the ads played. TV networks are hoping that viewers will start to expect ads during streaming shows.

Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/youtube-tv-will-force-you-to-watch-ads-on-many-dvrd-shows-1491842805
Sheridan Hopkins